Box Score Sept. 17, 2017

Final Stats

Box Score

IRVINE, Calif. -- After falling behind 1-0 early, the Pepperdine women's soccer team used a pair of first-half penalty kicks and then two strikes late in the second half to fight past UC Irvine on the road and pick up a 4-1 comeback win on Sunday afternoon.

Bri Visalli (San Jose, Calif./Valley Christian HS) and Tara Morris (Newport Coast, Calif./Mater Dei HS) converted on the penalty shots after Hailey Stenberg (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS) and Brie Welch (Arroyo Grande, Calif./Arroyo Grande HS) drew the respective fouls in the box. Visalli netted her second goal in the 76th minute, finishing a feed from Joelle Anderson (San Jose, Calif./Harker School) to make it 3-1. Anderson then followed up her first career assist with her first ever goal, netting a cross from Alex Marmureanu (Los Angeles, Calif./Marymount HS/Texas Tech) in the 81st minute.

The Waves fell behind early in the game after a header goal in the 16th minute put the home team on top, but goalkeeper Brielle Preece (Livermore, Calif./Granada HS) and the Pepperdine defense locked things down from there. Pepperdine moves to 5-2-2 with the win, while UC Irvine falls to 4-2-3.

GOALS

16' -- UC Irvine, Shelby Lee (2nd of the season), assisted by Noel Baham -- Lee scored a header goal off a cross from Baham to put the Anteaters up early.

22' -- Pepperdine, Bri Visalli (3rd of the season), no assist -- Hailey Stenberg drew a foul in the box and Visalli finished her second penalty kick of the year and third goal overall to even things up.

39' -- Pepperdine, Tara Morris (1st of the season), no assist -- Morris gave the Waves a 2-1 lead, scoring on the second penalty kick of the day for Pepperdine after Brie Welch drew the foul in the box. It was Morris' first goal of the year.

76' -- Pepperdine, Visalli (4th of the season), assisted by Joelle Anderson -- Visalli scored her second of the game when she collected a through ball from Anderson and beat the UCI keeper to make it a 3-1 game.

81' -- Pepperdine, Anderson (1st of the season), assisted by Alex Marmureanu -- Anderson finished a beautiful cross from Marmureanu right in front of the goal to put the finishing touch on the 4-1 victory.

STATS

• Shots -- Pepperdine 12, UC Irvine 9
• Shots on Goal -- Pepperdine 8, UC Irvine 4
• Saves -- Brielle Preece (PEPP) 3, Maddie Newsome (UCI) 4
• Fouls -- Pepperdine 7, UC Irvine 7
• Corners -- Pepperdine 1, UC Irvine 1

QUOTABLE

"Great result today against a very good UCI team," said Head Coach Tim Ward. "After such an emotional and physically taxing game on Friday (1-1 draw at No. 1 UCLA), we always ran the risk of coming out flat today, but we're so proud of how our girls managed the game. Really professional performance from every one of our players. Coming back from a goal down just once again shows the character of this group."

"Special shoutout to the entire defensive unit on another great performance, to some of our first-time goal scorers, Tara and Joelle, and to Bri Visalli for a tremendous senior display," said Ward.

UP NEXT

The Waves return to Malibu next week to close out non-conference play with a lone game on Friday, hosting UC Santa Barbara at 3 p.m. at Tari Frahm Rokus Field. Pepperdine then starts West Coast Conference play on the road at San Francisco and Santa Clara the following week.